All in a Day's Work
by JBMcGillicutty
Summary: Welcome to Haruka's garage where she'll fix your problems. Maybe all of them.
1. The minivan

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Sailor Moon or it's characters.  
**Author's note:** Maybe it's long and boring but I just wanted to see a Haruka that actually worked on cars instead of just driving them. I'm smitten by the idea of their normal lives. I'm thinking of doing a series of chapters where other characters will come in with a car problem and maybe another type of problem as well. I'm getting tired so that's the best explanation I've got. Enjoy.

**All in a Day's Work**

Sweat was wiped from a grease and dirt-smudged brow. A sigh escaped thin lips as the tall Blonde woman stood up straight and cracked her back. She looked down at the giant pick-up truck tire in front of her, the bead had been broken and so the tire sat loosely around the rim. She shook her head, took a deep breath and hauled it onto the tire changer. Times like this reminded her that she just got older and the tires just got heavier. One peddle pushed forced the claws of the machine to grasp the inside of the wheel. Another peddle and some adjustment placed the tool head against the rim. This was the last of a set of 4 truck tires she was mounting for a friend and she was relieved. Haruka slid the thin metal pry bar between the rim and the tire and that was as far as she got before the interruption.

A most audible exhaust leak from her wife's maroon minivan could not be ignored. The vehicle pulled just in front of the garage door and idled as Michiru rushed from the vehicle.

"Before you say anything, I want you to know I hate this contraption. All I did was start it up after leaving the studio and it sounds like it is going to explode!" Michiru was exasperated. The heat and stress caused a light sheen of sweat to form on her as well.

Haruka smirked inwardly and hoped that smirk didn't escape to the one side of her lips. Her wife, normally calm and composed was finally incensed by something.

"I was going to shut it off and call but one of the orchestra members, Fredrick-you remember him don't you? Anyways, he said it was an exhaust leak and that it would be okay to drive home. So here it is. Can we fix that?"

Haruka smiled at the 'we' in that sentence knowing it's implied meaning. "Sure we can."

"Because if we can't fix it I think we should burn it. Or donate it to engineering students so that they can determine what exactly not to do when designing a vehicle."

Haruka placed her hands on Michiru's shoulders to calm her. "Okay. Just relax." It dawned on the smaller woman that she was being over-dramatic. She nodded and moved to the stool by the work bench generally reserved for her or the occasional visitor. Haruka pulled the car into the closest bay, shut it off and got out.

"It's an old van." The blonde remarked as she kicked the hoist arms under the car. Michiru didn't comment but watched with interest. Michiru understood why people loved to watch her play her violin. There was just something so alluring about watching someone do something they were proficient at. Her added attraction to the blonde was enough to keep her eyes fixated on that body in motion.

The van lifted with the strength of the hoist at a press of a lever. At its peak, Haruka still had to slightly bend beneath it. She hung a trouble light off some component or another while she inspected the damage.

"Flange rotted off." She pointed it at it but noticed Michiru only stared at her.

Michiru shook herself out of it and gave her wife a smile. "So does that mean we get a new van?"

Haruka rummaged through her tool box and pulled out a small air powered saw. "No it means we can fix it. Cover your ears." She hooked up a hose from the air compressor to the tool and began cutting out a section of the rotted pipe. Michiru, with her ears covered, still cringed at the loud chattering and screeching sound that metal on metal contact made. It was over before long to her relief.

"Great, you made a bigger hole."

Haruka, ignoring the comment, grabbed a few fresh clean pieces of piping left over from prior exhaust jobs she had done and fit the best piece of the separation in the piping. She plugged in and pulled her small MIG welder to the underside of the car. Cranking the valve on the argon tank she positioned the tip of the gun against the seam of the new exhaust pipe.

"Might want to look away for a sec." Michiru turned in her seat and leaned against the work bench. The blue light from the welder reflected off the walls. The cork board above the bench had articles from Haruka's racing days pinned to it. There were a few ads for vehicles that the blonde may have been interested in. One was dated from 2 years earlier and likely never taken down. To look around Haruka's shop it was no proverbial "man cave". There wasn't a trophy on the wall. No beer fridge. Just a kind of organized chaos of tools scattered here and there.

"You can look now."

Michiru hopped off the stool and moved underneath the van to inspect the weld. "Hmm.. it's sufficient. Though for a moment I wished the van had fallen off the lift."

Haruka laughed and shooed the smaller woman from the underside of the van to lower it back down to the ground. Starting it produced not even the slightest abnormal noise or even the subtlest vibration of a leaky exhaust. "It's not a bad van. Just getting old."

Haruka wiped her hands on a rag and turned to the smaller woman. "So anyway that'll be point three for the inspection and 1 hour for the fix. I won't charge you for parts this time 'coz I like you. How do you want to pay?"

Michiru swayed towards her the way a lot of women would when they wanted something for nothing. Haruka felt Michiru had mastered it. And when her wife worked her way into her arms she could almost melt. "Do you accept credit?"

Haruka smiled and pressed a few kisses onto Michiru's soft neck. "Our machine seems to be down right now."

Michiru pulled away from the blonde and gave her a sad and innocent puppy dog look. It wasn't her style but it worked for this moment. "Well I haven't got a penny on me."

Enamoured by this game Haruka took her wife's hand and led her out of the garage towards the house.

She said, "Well I'm sure we can figure out another form of compensation…"

She got older.  
The tires got heavier.  
But at least some things never changed.


	2. A Not So Close Call

**Author's Note:** Feeling sappy. Projecting sappy feelings onto Haruka.

**Chapter 2: Not-so-close calls…**

Two figures, one tall blonde and one small ebony haired girl, stood in front of the silver sedan lifted up off the ground by a large hydraulic hoist. Striped of its left rear wheel and drum, the blonde pointed at the problem area.

"That's why you have little-to-no brake pedal."

"That?"

The shorter raven haired girl pointed at the exact same spot and Haruka nodded. A series of emotions flashed over the younger woman's face. Confusion. Frustration. Blatant fury. Then realization. A sigh escaped her lips.

"Well how?"

Haruka began to run a hand through her hair then pulled away remembering they were full of brake dust. "That is a wheel cylinder. Fluid pushes the two pistons out the sides and it jams your brake shoes against the drum." She pointed at the components as she explained.

"Problem is when it starts leaking around the inner seals, air gets into the brake line and you end up with a spongy pedal. "

Rei restarted the process of inner conflict. As though trying to decide whether to fix the car or burn it.

"This car has been nothing but trouble." Rei lightly kicked the tire laying on the ground.

"Every car in here this week has been 'nothing but trouble'. These things just happen."

"Doesn't that frustrate you at all?"

Haruka smiled charmingly. "Not really."

"Well what does? We need to figure out your weak spots."

She shrugged and said. "Other things." Grabbing a line wrench she began to work the brake line fitting out of the cylinder. "I'll order the part."

"Thanks."

Haruka nodded and the two stood in silence while she worked the old part off. Admittedly, Haruka wasn't as good at 1-on-1 as most thought. A crowd was easy to please. Nothing personal there. Sentimentality was difficult. Sometimes even with her own family. Michiru was the only exception and that certainly took time.

"It just took me by surprise."

Haruka looked up at her friend and gave her a comforting smile.

"I was lucky it wasn't busy out. If I hit someone while Minako was in the car and she got hurt, I'm not sure I could forgive myself."

"Well you're both fine." Haruka stood up straight and rolled her shoulders, the old part in one hand. She pressed a small stopper tool into the brake line to keep more fluid from draining out.

Rei leaned against a workbench in the garage and crossed her arms over her chest. "This doesn't feel easy."

Haruka looked over at the younger girl confused. "What isn't easy?"

"I want to take care of her, Haruka. I want her to be able to trust me. We can fight all the evil in the world but I can't always save her from the little things. Doesn't that scare you?"

Haruka leaned back against the car looking at the old wheel cylinder in her hands.

"Everything scares me now. Sometimes I wish I could go backwards. I'd live by myself forever and far away from everyone. I tried sometimes." Haruka scuffed her work boot against the ground. "I raced away as far as I could. Every hour I managed to be away, I'd feel good. Like I finally made it and I was free of responsibility. Like I hadn't changed at all."

"But like clockwork it all comes back on me and I start to feel old. My body starts to hurt. I get stiff and rickety." She struggled for the words to express herself. "My senses get so dull. My hands feel so empty. The world is a noisy place but I can't hear anything. Food stops tasting good. There aren't any colors anymore."

Rei frowned. "That doesn't sound appealing at all."

"Somewhere along the line, it got to be that if I didn't have them I was dead. And it's only fear that makes you want to run away because it tells you that you can't possibly save them. But it really only takes one taste and you're hooked. You'll endure anything to have them. Even if it shatters you."

The uncomfortable quiet was broken by a loud optimistic greeting from across the lawn. Minako waved to the two of them enthusiastically. It brought both their spirits up and it was that effect that Rei realized she could not live without. The blonde walked across the lawn to the separate garage carrying two glasses.

"You guys look so glum! Relax! Here, Setsuna made some iced tea. So what's wrong with it?"

Haruka smiled and thanked her. "You're missing the flux capacitor." She winked at Rei and they both laughed. The mood lightening considerably as Minako scratched her chin while inspecting the car.

"Yeah I can see where its missing."

Haruka laughed heartily and nodded while laughing. "Alright, you guys get out of my garage. I got to make some phone calls. I'll get one of you back here when I need to bleed the brakes."

The two of them were happy to oblige. As they walked towards the house Haruka could hear Minako whisper to Rei, "…Bleed the brakes…?" And Rei shrugged. She slipped a hand around her girlfriend's shoulder. "I'm sure it won't hurt."


End file.
